RT Book, Section
A1 Nelson, Lewis S.
A1 Howland, Mary Ann
A1 Lewin, Neal A.
A1 Smith, Silas W.
A1 Goldfrank, Lewis R.
A1 Hoffman, Robert S.
SR Print(0)
ID 1162999812
T1 Epigraph
T2 Goldfrank's Toxicologic Emergencies, 11e
YR 2019
FD 2019
PB McGraw-Hill Education
PP New York, NY
SN 9781259859618
LK accessemergencymedicine.mhmedical.com/content.aspx?aid=1162999812
RD 2024/04/20
AB The  cover  image  is  the  Papaver  somniferum  and  is  the  source  of  opium.  The  plant  is  native  to  Southwestern  Asia,  but  now  grown  around  the  globe.  Its  products  have  been  used  medicinally  and  recreationally  for  thousands  of  years.  The  beautiful  flowers  lose  their  petals  with  a  resultant  green  capsule,  which  when  lanced  exudes  the  highly  viscous  opium.  Opium  contains  numerous  alkaloids  of  which  morphine,  codeine,  papaverine,  and  thebaine  are  the  most  medically  consequential.  Morphine  is  an  opioid  agonist  analgesic,  which  when  diacetylated  produces  heroin.  Naloxone,  a  pure  opioid  antagonist  and  derivative  of  thebaine,  reverses  most  of  the  clinical  effects  of  opioid  agonists.  Opioids  in  almost  all  forms  are  used  with  remarkable  success  for  acute  pain  and  conversely,  misused  and  abused  with  tragic  implications  for  patients,  families,  and  society.  The  safe  and  appropriate  use  of  the  products  and  derivatives  of  Papaver  somniferum  will  define  much  of  the  work  of  toxicologists  in  the  twenty-first  century.